1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector, to a method of molding it and to a mold therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. H05-90852 discloses a connector with a housing made of a synthetic resin. A fittable tube is molded integrally with the housing and substantially surrounds at least a portion of the housing. The housing is configured to accommodate terminal fittings, and a retainer is mounted in the housing to lock the terminal fittings. The retainer is mounted into the housing in a direction normal to an opening direction of the fittable tube. Thus, a mount hole is formed in the fittable tube and the retainer is mounted into the housing through the mount hole.
The housing of the above-described connector requires a first mold to be removed in the opening direction of the fittable tube to form the fittable tube and the housing. A second mold must be removed in the direction normal to the opening direction of the fittable tube to form the mount hole. The second mold may become narrower depending on the shape of the housing. In such a case, a mold-removal hole must be formed at a position on the fittable tube opposite the mount hole. Thus, a third mold to be removed in a direction opposite from the second mold is used to form the mold-removal hole.
The first mold is removed after the second and third molds are removed. Thus, a recess corresponding to the mold-removal hole is required on the surface of the first mold that forms the inner peripheral surface of the fittable tube. The opening edge of the recess facing the inner peripheral surface of the fittable tube is angled. This angled edge may catch and damage the edge of the mold-removal hole as the first mold is being removed. This problem is prominent when the mold-removal hole is wide in a direction normal to a removing direction of the first mold.
The inner periphery of the fittable tube can be widened or stepped along the mold removing direction to prevent the angled opening edge from getting caught by the edge of the mold-removal hole. However, the widened or stepped fittable tube is larger, and hence the entire connector is larger.
The present invention was developed in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to prevent a mold from getting caught by an edge of a mold-removal hole.